What’s a decent beginner set to play with and carve into hardwood. Because I’m doing stone inlay I basically just need to cut the outline and then remove the wood to a depth of 1/8” or so I’m guessing. Any tips?

I really have no idea what I need… something to cut an outline and something to remove the center?

1 reply so far

Being a newb carver myself…I found a great website and source of carving information. It is from a Ma & Pa pair in Washington State…and they are highly regarded in all the carving blogs and web groups that I have researched and joined. The Company name is Little Shavers and here is a link. I would only recommend carving if you want to go further then inlay work.

Now….if you are just going to inlay initials – or pretty much plan on inlaying rather then carving….why don’t you use a router?? You can use an inlay template (built for inlay work)...even make your own without having to buy additional tools or taking the time to hand carve? I would certainly research that method before resorting to hand carving. Also, you might want to look into rotary tools to do the inlay work…there are great router bases for them to allow you to be very precise in making the inlay slots….they are fairly inexpensive and have the extra convenience of being useable for a lot of other things.